On Being Successful

By: Lynne Marks|9 Jan 2014

“If you feel like giving up, just remember why you started.” This is the message on the wall of my gym. How true?! Why is it that we take on heady goals, swept along by firm resolve and strong conviction at the time? Then, a few weeks or even days later, decide that it was a terrible idea. Whatwere we thinking? Perhaps it’s because the initial frame of mind or mindset was driven by a different emotion than the one that takes over when reality strikes. We buy on emotion, spurred on by a possibility; of course we can get in shape, lose the weight, achieve the goal, get the job, and all it takes is to keep thinking those delightful thoughts.

Ask successful sportspeople what they had to do to transition their dream goal into one of reality. Their answer will be an action plan, and the ability to ignore the inner critic, the impossibly negative coach stuck in their heads whose deafening advice is ‘are you crazy?’ This is the ability to suspend thinking, and “just do it.” Lastly, with the goal very firmly in front and center at all times, they take on a coach, which makes them accountable to a personal boss. Armed with internal and external support from all sides, they are willing to do whatever it takes to be whipped into shape.

This is the difference between successful and unsuccessful people. To be successful, you don’t have to be a high achiever, an extraordinary leader or superman. You need to have a clear vision and goal. You need to be willing to be wrong about your own opinion and wary of your own thoughts, and you need to kill the “do-it-yourself” approach in your head.